The German Supreme Court has made it official; the Cum/Ex was not a loophole but a blatant money grab.
The two Warburg executives can expect jail time, and their firm a bankruptcy.
Many others will follow.

The ARRC has recommended the CME’s methodology to calculate a term structure for SOFR. This is big news.
This article explains SOFR’s weaknesses, what a term structure is, why we need one and how the CME calculates its own.

In a new version of the transfer pricing strategy, Tom Sandell virtually relocated his hedge fund from New York to Florida to avoid NY tax liabilities on his deferred comp.
The story didn’t finish well. A whistleblower and the NY AG forced him to cough up $105m.

LIBOR, the most important number in the world, had a good run for the last 50 years, but it is going away.
SOFR, its replacement, is not subject to manipulations but has a host of problems.
The transition is difficult.

Not all central bankers and diplomats have a good opinion of cryptocurrencies.
They are assessing their costs & benefits through articles in prime newspapers.
One diplomat/economist just called for their outright ban.

A summary of the largest Ponzi schemes in history, with a visualization that is a pleasure to the eyes.

The Momentus / Stable Road merger is the epitome of what can go wrong with SPACs. It is a story of dreams, greed, and lies.
The SEC made an example out of it. The plaintiff law firms are jumping on the bandwagon too.

Guggenheim had restrictive language against whistleblowing in its compliance manual. The SEC reviewed the manual and fined the firm $209,000 – before any whistleblower was silenced.
The message is clear; the SEC will not tolerate any whistleblower muzzle.

FINRA slapped its largest penalty eve, $70m, to Robinhood for numerous and shocking failings.
That fine will raise the firm’s IPO price.

The 2-and-20 are decried as enormous and one-sided fees. Investors are angry at the poor net performances. The press is pointing at large redemptions in a failing industry.
In other news, the weather is beautiful in hedge fund land.

The Biden administration is planning a significant IRS budget increase so that the agency can effectively collect what it is owed. The investment will pay for itself multiple times. The “Tax Gap” now stands at an enormous $1 trillion per year. “Defund the IRS” has been the policy of the decade.

Medallion is Renaissance’s flagship fund. It was up 75% in 2020. Unfortunately, it manages only the employees’ money.
All the other investors were down ~30% during the same period. Not as great.
Redemptions ensued. $11 bn of redemptions now.